March 19 Thursday – At Delmonico’s in N.Y.C. Sam attended a 1 p.m. luncheon given by George C. Riggs for Colonel Herbert J. Foster [NB 46 TS 12], where he signed a letter to Laurence Hutton taken down by J.D. Jerrold Kelley veteran of the U.S. Navy and author of The Ship’s Company and Other Sea People (1897) see Gribben 366. The group drank to Hutton’s health and return, and besides Sam and Kelley included: Herbert J. Foster, British naval attache, George C. Riggs (husband of Kate Douglas Riggs), Grosvenor Silliman Hubbard (1842-1919), successful N.Y. attorney; Edward Simms, Samuel Elliot, publisher and Players Club member; Edward Simonds, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), art collector and dealer; and Robert Reid, artist. “A very few of the many friends who love you and think of you often are here lunching with our friend Colonel Foster who has recently come to our country as Great Britain’s military attaché” [MTP].
In a letter of Mar. 23, Sam referred to this trip into N.Y.C. and a stop at Harper & Brothers, where he took a letter and postcard and MS from an unidentified woman. See entry for his response to her.
Sam’s notebook: “Susy’s birthday. She would be 31 now / [Horiz. Line separator] / Geo. Riggs. Lunch to Col. Foster. 1 p.m. Delmonico’s, 44th st” [NB 46 TS 12; also MTB 1195 in part].
Harper & Brothers wrote to Sam concerning renewal of copyright of the April installment of LM, and also other works [MTP].